The present invention is directed to systems effecting virtual representation of complex assemblies, and especially to identifying particular parts in an assembly represented by such a system.
There are existing software programs that identify individual parts, also referred to herein as components, within an assembly in an on-line format amenable to manipulation. The prior art programs of this type are substantially focused upon a manufacturing environment, permitting substantially automatic generation of materials lists required for producing an assembly. Other related reports and lists may be produced using such programs as well.
However, the manufacturing process intended application of such prior art on-line systems and apparatuses results in a user having to access the entire system to identify a small solution group of parts within the assembly. By way of example and not by way of limitation, in the case of an on-line manufacturing system and apparatus appropriate for assembly or manufacturing of an aircraft, a user desiring to identify a solution group of parts bounding an identified group of parts must load the entire parts catalog of the system encompassing the entire aircraft in order to conduct a search for the solution group. Further, because of the manufacturing-related nature of the system and apparatus, the user likely needs to also know the process flow and the layout of the finished assembly in order to effect the exemplary desired search. In the case of a large complex commercial aircraft, it is burdensome to load the on-line descriptions for an entire parts inventory on most computers available for such an inquiry due to the file size of the on-line descriptions. Often, the search must therefore be conducted by loading the parts inventory descriptions in sections. This is a cumbersome process that occupies computing assets and may interfere with other processes for which the computing assets may be required.